On this day, 37 years ago, December 7, 1988 (October 29, 1988, the Armenian earthquake affected 1 million people. A man lay his hands on the coffin of his relatives and cried bitterly. At the end of 1988, the Soviet Republic of Armenia, which had been plagued by continuous turmoil for a year, was hit by new tragedy and destruction. Its two cities, Leninakan and Spitak, were reduced to rubble after a massive earthquake. The earthquake occurred at 11:41 a.m. on December 7. 80% of the city's buildings were destroyed and more than 50 villages were completely destroyed, causing economic losses of 10 billion rubles, exceeding the losses caused by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. The Soviet Union dispatched 3752 civil aircraft and 2426 military aircraft to rescue 82,000 people in disaster relief. In a short period of time, 1.2 billion rubles were received in disaster relief donations from across the country. Foreign countries also donated more than US$100 million and dispatched 286 aircraft to urgently transport relief supplies and rescue workers. In the catastrophe, the believed death toll is as high as 100,000. Ninety-eight percent of the bodies were dug up from under the rubble. 19,000 people were disabled and as many as 1 million people were affected. Survivors of the catastrophe had to huddle outside their dilapidated homes. There are at least thousands of coffins piled into mountains outside Spituck Stadium. A large-scale rescue operation followed, and the survivors used their bare hands to pull apart the broken bricks and tiles, hoping to find missing relatives and friends. Armenian authorities quickly established a disaster relief committee. Rescue troops set up countless tents to accommodate the victims and provide food, and medical teams provided medical assistance to the victims. The disaster occurred at the end of an already troubled year. In February, the southern Soviet Republic of Armenia and the non-Soviet Republic of Albania were both tortured by the worst peacetime ethnic riots. Previously, there had been calls for the Armenian majority Nikola-Garabak region to be returned to Armenian control, a request that Albania rejected. The Garabak region, with three quarters of Armenia's population, has been part of Albania since 1921. Large-scale demonstrations took place in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, and throughout the disputed region. In addition, violent clashes broke out between the two sides in the city of Sumgate in Albania.